(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 31 July 2001 RSF press release: “No lifting of sanctions before the release of the 18 jailed journalists and the elimination of censorship” Two weeks after the release of journalist San San Nweh and ten other opponents of the military junta, Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders RSF) […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 31 July 2001 RSF press release:
“No lifting of sanctions before the release of the 18 jailed journalists and the elimination of censorship”
Two weeks after the release of journalist San San Nweh and ten other opponents of the military junta, Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders RSF) asks the European Union (EU) and the United Sates not to lift sanctions imposed on the Burmese regime before the release of the 18 media professionals currently in jail in the country and the elimination of censorship.
“This first wave of releases shows that international sanctions were successful in changing the repressive policy of the military junta. Pressure must be maintained, because hundreds of prisoners are still in jail,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard.
The release of some 50 opposition members, including journalists San San Nweh and Soe Thein, is clearly a positive act by the generals in power in Rangoon, but it is not sufficient progress towards respecting human rights, notably freedom of expression, in Burma.
While the EU is due to decide whether to renew its sanctions on 28 October, RSF asks the Belgian EU president and the other fourteen member countries to take into consideration the situation of the jailed journalists and the state of press freedom.
RSF hopes that the special rapporteur of the United Nations for Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, and the special envoy of the secretary general of the United Nations for Burma, Razali Ismail, will intervene in favour of the imprisoned journalists during their next meetings with Burmese authorities. RSF, which has consultative status with the United Nations Human Rights Commission, also hopes that their next reports focus on the serious condition of press freedom.
An investigative mission by RSF in Thailand, where most former Burmese political prisoners are living in exile, obtained new information about the 18 media professionals still in jail and about the state of censorship imposed by Rangoon authorities. Sentenced to stiff jail terms 59 years for Yan Aung Soe for having “distributed news against the state,” for owning a video camera or for talking with foreign journalists, the 18 Burmese journalists are detained in life-threatening conditions. The use of torture, the poor conditions of their cells and the long periods of isolation have terrible consequences for the physical and mental health of some prisoners. Myo Myint Nyein, jailed since September 1990, is very weak and suffers from mental illness. He was held for more than eight months in a kennel in Insein prison.
According to recent statements by former political prisoners, detention conditions have not improved much since the return of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 1998. In its report, Reporters Sans Frontières recommends that the military junta allow the ICRC to work freely in all the country’s jails and detention centres.
Finally, the regime’s drastic censorship still deprives the Burmese people of independent news. Tin Maung Than, editor of a private magazine, now living in exile, told RSF how the Press Scrutiny Board checks all texts closely to eliminate words like “democracy” and “corruption.” It also forbids the publication of articles about female heads of state. In essence, all positive references to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi are forbidden in the media. Despite the risks taken by listeners, international radio stations in Burmese are the only way to bypass the censorship.
The report titled “18 Media Professionals Still Behind Bars” was sent to the Burmese embassy in France, the Belgian government (current EU presidency), the U.S. State Department, the special rapporteur of the United Nations for Burma, the special envoy of the secretary-general of the United Nations for Burma, the secretary-general of ASEAN and the European commissioner for foreign policy.
The report “18 Media Professionals Still Behind Bars” is available at www.rsf.org and www.press-freedom.org.
